The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta — Mario Vargas Llosa

From the Nobel Prize-winning author. "In a way, this novel about an obscure Peruvian revolutionary is a perfect introduction to Vargas Llosa.” -- Terrence Rafferty, The Nation

The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta is an astute psychological portrait of a modern revolutionary and a searching account of an old friend's struggle to understand him. First published in English in 1986 -- at a turning point in Mario Vargas Llosa's career -- the novel probes the long and checkered history of radical politics in Latin America.

“With [The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta] Mario Vargas Llosa . . . has replaced Gabriel García Márquez as the South American novelist for gringos to catch up on.” -- John Updike, The New Yorker

“A glittering trompe l'oeil of a novel about the revolutionary temperament -- and the nature of fiction.” -- The New York Times

“Mario Vargas Llosa [is] one of the master storytellers of our time.” -- Denis Lynn Heyck, Chicago Tribune Book World